As many of us sleep off our post-election hangovers, the new mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh, is already planning for his next four years in office— years that will no doubt include tremendous improvements to Boston’s public schools.
Those who have followed the race know that DFER was a strong supporter of Walsh’s opponent, John Connolly, since we named him as a Reformer of the Month back in 2011. But, although Connolly didn’t get the “V” we all hoped for, we can confidently say a genuine reformer won his seat as the next mayor of Beantown.
As we said early on, both Connolly and Walsh are education Democrats; Connolly just happens to be an exceptional one. And, regardless of the outcome, two things have become clear: we have a lot of work to do to get our schools where they need to be; and, although Walsh was not our first choice, we are confident that he will live up to the promises he has made to improve Boston’s schools.
In the end, what matters most is this race is still a win for the students of Boston who can look forward to having a mayor who will keep their best interests at heart and work hard to improve the education they receive.
Liam has advised nonprofits in Massachusetts, an NGO consultancy in the Czech Republic, a charter school incubator, and a charter school network. He has worked on statewide political campaigns in Massachusetts and Vermont. Prior to DFER, Liam worked for the management consultancy The Parthenon Group and the national venture philanthropy fund New Profit Inc. Read more about Liam here.